It's a very busy day, and the tasks at hand keep increasing faster than the available timed to do then. Just finding material for today's articles. I shall catch up sooner or later.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today's took me 3:22 (average 5:39). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Religious Ecstasy:
They did not make the playoffs. Mike Shanahan announced his retirement yesterday. I'm hoping they tap Wade Phillips.
Fantasy Football Report:
This is the final report of the year for our own Fantasy Football league, Lefty Blog Friends.
Playoffs:
Scoreboard:
Congrats to Jack for winning the playoffs. I have already submitted my intent to keep the league going. If you will not be participating next year, please let me know ASAP.
Short Takes:
From The Hill: Senate and House Republicans are headed for a clash over whether to tackle Medicare reform under President-elect Donald Trump.
Senate Republican leaders prefer to focus narrowly on an ObamaCare replacement bill that does not contain changes to Medicare — a cautious approach that reflects their slim majority.
But House Republicans, firmly in control of the lower chamber, want to aim higher. They say unified Republican control of government is a chance to finally enact the entitlement reforms that they’ve been talking about for years.
Rep. Pete Roskam (R-Ill.), a member of the Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over healthcare, said voters have endorsed the Republican argument that Medicare needs to be reformed.
This is not an either/or issue. It's None of the Above! RESIST!!
From CNN: A Texas lawmaker is lucky to be alive after an apparently stray bullet hit his head during a New Year's celebration early Sunday, authorities said.
State Rep. Armando "Mando" Martinez, D-Weslaco, said his wife had just given him a kiss shortly after ringing in the new year with family and friends, and the next thing he knew, "it felt like a sledgehammer hit me over the head."
A bullet fragment had just punctured the top of the south Texas legislator's head.
Martinez said he had just stepped outside a home in a rural neighborhood north of Weslaco when he was hit.
IMHO, they should be looking for the one of Fuhrer's Ammosexual assassins. RESIST!!
From HRW: Some senior Israeli officials have been encouraging Israeli soldiers and police to kill Palestinians they suspect of attacking Israelis even when they are no longer a threat, Human Rights Watch said today in an analysis of those statements. Other Israeli officials have failed to repudiate the calls for excessive use of force.
Human Rights Watch has documented numerous statements since October 2015, by senior Israeli politicians, including the police minister and defense minister, calling on police and soldiers to shoot to kill suspected attackers, irrespective of whether lethal force is actually strictly necessary to protect life.
“It’s not just about potentially rogue soldiers, but also about senior Israeli officials who publicly tell security forces to unlawfully shoot to kill,” said Sari Bashi, Israel advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “Whatever the results of trials of individual soldiers, the Israeli government should issue clear directives to use force only in accordance with international law.
I bet Butcher Bibi's butt buddy, the Fuhrer, wants popcorn to munch, while they watch the videos. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
14 Responses to “Open Thread – 1/2/2017”
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The Hill: Sending this to family memeber who are on ACA, good Lord, just leave it be. Yes, RESIST!!! bigTime!!!
CNN: Nothing short of a miracle that he's alive, releived to read he's going to be okay! Martinez was elected to a seventh term in November, keep up the good work!!
Cartoon: Yea, they would LOVE that!!!
Good score by your team! Mine lost, however they will host this weekend's wild card round of the playoff's. Who they playing, you ask? Why, the Raiders of course.
Busy day for me and visiting family. Should ease up in a couple days. Enjoy the rest of your day, take care, and Thanks, Tom.
Enjoy your Raiderburgers. We didn't leave much.
Cartoon: If we could send them back, virtually none of us, including the Orange one of them, would be here!
The Hill: We need the proposed law that says that "Congress shall enact no law…" affecting health coverage that does not also appy to congress!
HRW: I wonder what the various people who were so upset anoiut our recent U.N. abstention would think about this? I wpuld call it "Official lawlessness!"
How about, "Congress shall enact no law!" Period!!
4:06 Sure glad they didn't just decide to paint a live cow.
In case you haven't found it yet, there is a petition about prison visitation on Care2. http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/729/366/174/ Anyone can sign Care2 petitions, not just members.
I wish the ellipsoid orb the best as it temporarily retires to wherever it is that dead Cthulhu lies dreaming. May it awaken refreshed in the Fall.
The Hill – Well, good luck to Democrats. We need to resist while also keeping them at each others' throats. A trus balancing act.
CNN – There were so many merrymakers firing off ammosexual toys that it will be a challenge to trace this back to the shooter. How much ballistics information can they get from a partial bullet? BTW a five year old girl was also killed by this merrymaking, probably not at the same place, but in the same state at the same time. About the only thing we can be sure of is that Pat B and her family had nothing to do with it.
HRW – Sounds about how black citizens are treated in the US.
Cartoon – Are you sure? A lot of those would have been lily white. Maybe even ancestors of today's GOP. Or is this another way of pushing Granny off a cliff?
RESIST !!!
Signed. Thanks!
Make it a good start of the new year, TomCat, and alternate between working hard on all those chores a new year throws at you and getting plenty of rest. You need to keep yourself fighting-fit for 2017!
TH: It makes me want to puke when Republicans in Congress – who got their seats through gerrymandering, voter suppression and having them bought by their masters – want to push through their masters' plans which will increase the wealth of those masters but which will de facto hurt, and even kill, their poorer voters and then have the audacity to say they do it because their voters want them to. Only a 1%-Republican mind can come up with such vile reasoning.
RESIST!
CNN: No doubt I'm terribly biased, but lawmaker Armando Martinez is a Democrat, likely to be strongly backed by Hispanic voters and was shot in Texas, all of which – because of my bias of course -also leads me to believe this was not a stray bullet and the shooter can be found among Drumpf's ammosexuals. Which doesn't narrow it down much, does it. The Sheriff's office should do better and:
RESIST!
HRW: The instructions to shoot to kill of Palestinians suspected of attacking Israelis by the top of the military has been reported on more than once in the past years, but I'm sure HRW wanted to make sure they really have evidence of this happening before they file their report. HRW has a very difficult job doing that, kept from investigating, banned from entering certain areas and being maligned as anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian liars. Kudos to them for sticking to it and bringing out this report. What they did was:
RESIST!
Cartoon: If they had sent them back then, the GOP would have missed out on a lot of white voters too, wouldn't they?
Appreciate your Broncos helping my KC Chiefs get a first-round bye in the playoffs.
Next year!!
Puzzle — 3:31 That is a moo-ving picture of cow and calf!
FF — Well, at least YOU still have to look up to me Puddy Tat! I'm in for next year.
The Hill — "…many Republicans would like to transform Medicare from a fee-for-service program that provides virtually unlimited coverage to one where the government contribution per patient is more fixed. Under such a system, the thinking goes, beneficiaries would have more incentive to control their medical cost. " — The Republican death benefit spelled out!
I would have nothing against a means test based on income provided that it was fair and reasonable, which of course would not be in keeping with Republican tactics. Here in BC for example, we have a type of means test for Fair Pharmacare which bases plan deductibles (patient portion) on taxable income from the previous year. There is also debate right now about changing provincial medical plan premiums so that premiums are tied to taxable income, just like Fair Pharmacare. There is a level of income that provides for full coverage of medical plan premiums and prescription drugs.
I agree with you — leave Medicare, Medicaid and Obamacare alone.
RESIST!!!
CNN — Even if this shooting was not targeted, it should never have happened. Too many guns in the hands of too many people with no or insufficient training and not enough brains to fill a gnat's teacup!
HRW — The Israeli government cares nothing about the rule of law, international or otherwise, when it comes to the Palestinian people. I would dearly love to see Butcher Bibi taken to court where he would be no different than anyone else. I'm sure Trump will see to The Butcher's well being.
Cartoon — No doubt, First Nations would probably agree — return to sender all European stock!
RESIST!!!
Catching up later is just fine! Prioritise and relax! Sorry I didn't get into yesterday's OT until this evening. I went to see mum and didn't get home until 2230 hr. She is definitely declining, dramatically so at this point. She sleeps a lot. It has always been emotional for me, but it is increasing.
I'm so sorry your mom is getting worse. {{{HUG}}}
It is to be expected. Dementia never gets better. I have been handling it these past 9 years, but seems a bit different now. Perhaps it is because it looks like the end is relatively near. I don't know. I certainly can't want her to go on because I know she doesn't want this.
I know there's nothing to be done. I'm just sorry you, and maybe you both, are suffering.
Thanks all! Pooped Hugs!!